The present contribution provides some preliminary considerations concerning the compatibility between the EU independent national mechanisms (INMs) to be set up under EU regulation 2024/1356 and the National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) set up under the 2002 UN Optional Protocol for the Prevention of Torture. Should existing NPMs be tasked with the EU monitoring mandate envisaged under the regulation, there are some matters pertaining to the scope of the places subject to monitoring and the mechanisms’ financial independence that require clarification to enhance synergies and address possible tensions between the two mandates and ultimately the protection of migrants’ rights at the EU borders. The Independent National Mechanisms under EU Regulation 2024/1356 The 2024 EU pact on migration and asylum introduced a new obligation under Article 10 of the Screening Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1356) and Article 43(4) of the Asylum Procedure Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1348) requiring Member States (MS) to have independent national mechanisms (INMs) to monitor fundamental rights compliance during the screening of new arrivals and when assessing asylum claims at the…
International Law and Domestic Law
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“No safe haven” is not enough – universal jurisdiction and Russia’s war of aggression
Three years after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the widespread activation of universal and other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction to prosecute international crimes committed in the war calls for an evaluation. What has been achieved so far and what could be done better? Despite the stated commitment of Ukraine’s allies to complement the justice efforts in…
People As Products: A Human Rights Perspective On The Transfer Of US Prisoners To Salvadoran Jails
On the 4th of February 2025, the President of El Salvador offered the United States of America ‘the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system’, transferring convicted U.S. criminals into the Salvadoran mega-prison (CECOT) ‘in exchange for a fee.’ Amidst an increasingly fragile rule of law, mounting carceral expansion and documented human rights abuses in Salvadoran…
Two-President Problem: Recognition of Head of State of Georgia after 29 December
In recent months, Georgia has faced a deepening constitutional crisis. After elections marred with irregularities, the legality and legitimacy of the rule of the present powers-that-be have been questioned domestically and increasingly also internationally. These challenges to its authority have not barred the ruling party – Georgian Dream –…
Kerajaan Malaysia v. Lawyers for Liberty: At the Confluence of Fake News and Extraterritoriality
The dangers caused by the proliferation of misinformation – or ‘fake news’ – via social media platforms and instant messaging services are not easy to counteract. By the internet’s very nature, online communications are difficult to regulate as information shared by users in one jurisdiction can be easily made available to users in many others. In some cases,…